Prince Andrew last night launched an astonishing defence of bankers' bonuses and declared them 'minute'.
The Duke of York, whose globe-trotting across 23 countries last year cost the taxpayer £140,000, made the extraordinary claim in a frank interview. He spoke of his shock at the scale of the recession but warned against victimising bankers

He excused his own expense calling himself an ' asset' with a genetic right to be an ambassador for Britain. Britain’s special representative for trade and investment said the cost of funding his own travels was an 'investment'.

What a stupid thing to say, he should perhaps have said the only reason I have the job is because they didn't know what else to do with me. Does he deserve it, is he up to it - 46% of companies he was supposed to help say not according to the Telegraph article posted a few days ago!
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It gets worse -

Prince Andrew has been criticised for meddling in party politics after urging the Government to preserve a controversial loophole that allows Britain’s wealthiest residents to avoid paying millions of pounds in tax each year.
Gordon Brown has pledged to axe rules allowing wealthy ‘non-domiciled’ foreigners living in Britain to escape UK tax on foreign earnings which they keep abroad.

Andrew just drops himself in it the majority of the time. He should learn to be more tactful especially at this present time.
I'm sorry "a genetic right to be an ambassador for Britain" why?
Yes he is a member of the royal family, but that is a privelge in itself, that doesn't mean he is automatically more british than the rest of us, quite the opposite actually.

It seems that most male members of the Royal Family are genetically inclined to make comments that are unpopular and lacking much forethought, and so it really does come as no surprise to me that Prince Andrew has said these things. In my opinion, he is perfectly entitled to say what he likes, but I would rather he have his royal status removed so as not to cause any further embarrassment to the institution of the monarchy, which relies on the people of this country having faith in those most closely associated with it.

Prince Andrew yesterday came under heavy fire after controversially attacking government tax reforms and intervening in the debate over City bonuses.
The Royal was accused of being ‘completely and utterly out of touch’ after he backed the interests of ultra-wealthy ‘non-domiciled’ foreigners and claimed bank bonuses are ‘minute’.

Just to clarify my earlier comment about wanting the Duke of York to have his royal status removed, I meant to say that this ought to be the case if he wishes to make comments that will be unpopular with the British public or are of a political nature. Having said that, I'm all for the Monarch her/himself to have more political influence.